Dog Days

IF YOU’VE LIVED IN TEXAS for any length of time, you know that bombastic statements about the weather will typically circle back around in the form of a platter heaped tall with crow.

Some doomsayers, this spring, were predicting that our central Texas lakes would never fill again. Now we’ve got weather-folk proclaiming that our 7-year drought is officially over. I suppose it was for a while, but now it hasn’t rained in six weeks and we’re pegging 100 everyday. In mid-June I had xeriscape plants at my house that were moldy and drowning; now they’re withered and burnt. Periods of big rain will be followed by periods of big dry. That’s the way it works, here. Only nowadays the weather pendulum seems to swing significantly wider.

The historic floods of May/June 2015 came with an unfortunate cost, but they also flushed our stagnant bay systems and the payoff came along quickly.

I spent July piling up stock images in Port Aransas, and I can’t recall seeing as many juvenile shrimp and blue crabs up in the skinny water. The redfish were tailing, the trout were turned on, and the entire eco-system had a re-birth shine to it. If previous patterns hold up, the best redfishing on the Texas coast typically comes after extended wet spells. Let’s hope the forecasted “strong El Nino” for this fall keeps our rivers flowing into the bays. With consistent freshwater inflows, next summer could be epic for redfish.

The photo-ops were many, last month, and I’ve got some great new stock in the archive. Big thanks to YETI Coolers for shipping down product that we worked into the scenes. To see the full shoot, please click here.

Specktacular weakfish

Gulf shrimpers staging before opening day

Looking for wagglers near Mud Island

Hi! I’ll be hanging just off your transom, eating your chum and stealing whatever you catch